Fiers benefits from extra rest in no-no follow-up

MINNEAPOLIS -- Mike Fiers tried out his best Johnny Vander Meer impression on Saturday, but it only lasted three innings.

Fiers, who tossed a no-hitter in his last start against the Dodgers on Aug. 21, held the Twins hitless until the fourth, when Joe Mauer ended the right-hander's attempt to become the second pitcher to throw two consecutive no-hitters during Saturday's 4-1 win over the Twins.

"I have to put that aside," Fiers said of the no-hitter. "You build off that, but you don't think about what you did last start."

Fiers gave up just three hits and a run in six-plus innings against the Twins. He walked three, which he was unhappy with and left with two runners on after hitting Trevor Plouffe with a pitch and giving up a single to Eddie Rosario.

"Just to get to that point and the game was in my hands, I kind of let myself down," Fiers said. "I should've been better than that at that point, but luckily Will [Harris] came in and did his job."

Though Fiers came away with a victory and a quality start, manager A.J. Hinch said he didn't think the starter was particularly sharp.

"[That] is hard to say after a game like that because he pitched well. His line was good," Hinch said. "Got into a little bit of a jam at the end when he tried to field a ball barehanded, but he navigated through some jams."

Fiers unsuccessfully to barehand Rosario's single and was pulled after that at 98 pitches. Fiers said his hand was fine -- he just needed to learn how to not instinctually reach out for the ball in that situation.

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Aside from the seventh, the only other jam Fiers found himself in was in the fourth -- a pivotal inning for the Astros. After scoring three runs of their own, Fiers walked two and gave up his first hit before inducing a double play.

"I put myself in a bad situation but I had to make a big pitch and get a ground ball. We didn't care about one run there. We were playing normal double play depth and got [Trevor] Plouffe to hit that ball right to Jed [Lowrie] and we were able to turn to and like I said, that was the biggest inning."

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With the win, Fiers is now 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA since joining the Astros at the non-waiver Trade Deadline. In his past four starts, he has given up just four runs -- two earned -- in 27 innings. After his 134-pitch no-hitter, Fiers received a few extra days of rest and said he felt great.

And though Fiers didn't come close to Vander Meer's record, the righty did do what he set out to accomplish: win.

"You've gotta go out there, it's a different game. Different team. Really different game plan against these guys," Fiers said. "Just kind of wash it away and say 'hey, today's a different day.' I can't sit on that outing because it's over with and I was able to put up a quality start today and we won."